Lansing residents object to proposed mini mart

A proposal to build a Dandy Mini Mart on the corner of Route 34B and East Shore Drive in Lansing is raising objections both specific to the project and regarding development in Lansing in general.

“It’s an iconic corner,” said Eileen Stout, owner of the historic Rogues’ Harbor Inn located across East Shore Drive from the proposed market. “This is not my ideal use, and I don’t think it’s the best use, but if we do it, we should do it well.”

Plans call for an 8,400-square-foot building angled to the intersection with outdoor seating facing the corner. Two fuel islands would provide gasoline and there would be one diesel island for tractor-trailers. Inside would be a fastfood restaurant with 30 seats, a coffee shop and a “beer cave.” Access would be from East Shore Drive and Route 34B.

Stout, resident Gay Nicholson and others argue that Lansing’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan calls for the town to “welcome economic opportunities that do not sacrifice the character of the community.”

The plan calls for “[b]usiness and industry that preserves the rural character and look of the community while capitalizing upon community strengths,” “[b]usiness and industry that utilizes high quality, and attractive, building and landscape designs that incorporate and enhance the surrounding areas look and feel” and “[b]usiness and industry that fills a unique niche within the Finger Lakes region.”

“The scale of this thing is all wrong for that intersection and for the town if we want to have any hope of redevelopment that is not industrial in nature,” Nicholson said. “A mammoth truck plaza with blazing overhead lights, truck exhaust spewing and noise will ruin that entry point to the town.”

The mini mart would be “sited at a funny angle to the intersection,” Stout said.

She would prefer the building face East Shore Drive in order to shield the inn from much of the expected noise and light and to promote a “complete street” to visually fill in the corner.

“This business can’t supply Lansing with anything we don’t already have,” Stout said. “It will compete with locally owned businesses like the Sub Shop, Lansing Pizza and the Lansing Market. The result will be empty, vacant spaces. I think it would be a net zero — devaluing houses and businesses around it and competing with existing businesses.”

Stout also voiced the effect the development would have on the Lansing Town Center.

“The Town Center is starting to happen,” she said. “Then this comes in to be a scar on an iconic corner.”

Nicholson added that “the safety concerns of this intersection have not been addressed and will be negatively impacted with a business focused on attracting tractor-trailers.”

Buildings currently on the 4.7-acre site would be demolished, including the now-vacant Gene’s Machines building and its neighbor that holds the Lansing Grooming Spa and Liberty Liquors.

“It’s tearing my store down, and I have to move and find another place,” said Wally Kusznir, owner of Liberty Liquors. “Close or move — one of two.”

Kusznir said that his current lease with building owner Lansing Square Associates is now month-to-month in anticipation of the development and that he has explored several potential new homes for his business.

Planning Board response

The new Dandy was presented initially to the Town Planning Board on Jan. 11, and members of the Board raised some of the residents’ concerns with Dandy General Manager Duane Phillips, Jr. and Fagan Engineering’s James Gensel.

Phillips said that truck drivers stopping for fuel could be expected to get coffee and food as well. Dandy is planning parking for six trucks with another two in the fueling lane to accommodate that.

Hours of operation are not set, Phillips said.

“It depends on what the site would support,” he said. “We have some 24-hour locations, but the majority are open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.”
Board member Larry Sharpsteen brought the building’s design to the table.

Initially, Phillips cited Dandy’s existing Big Flats, New York, store, but Board members pushed back on that design’s flat roof. Sharpsteen asked the project planners to use surrounding buildings as style cues, moving Phillips to cite a gabled store in Hector, New York, as an alternative.

“We can adapt the exterior features to get something the community wants,” Phillips said.

Board member Dean Shea reminded Phillips and Gensel of Tompkins County’s regulations on energy efficiency and “dark sky” lighting.

“There is a bed and breakfast to the east, and lighting is a concern, especially if there’s 24-hour operation,” Shea said.

Phillips said that the required property has been purchased contingent to permitting for the project. Another small parcel on the south border of the project is being sought to improve access to East Shore Drive.

After the meeting, Stout and Kusznir raised questions about environmental problems at the site, including subsidence from Cargill mining below and contamination from the “pit stop” gas station’s underground gas tanks. During the meeting, Phillips said that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had given the property a “clean bill of health.”

Nicholson asked residents to “write to the Town Board to ask that they enforce our Comprehensive Plan and either reject this project or force them to adopt significant redesign to lessen their unwanted impacts on our town.”

“I have confidence that if more concerned citizens write letters, we will get something that looks like it belongs here and reflects the rural character of Lansing,” Stout said.